


Every villain is a hero in his own mind

by ALannister



Category: Mahabharata - Vyasa
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 00:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4158687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALannister/pseuds/ALannister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every villain is a hero in his own mind. The one man who stood against the might of not just brave men but demigods & even the Gods, Suyodhan or Duryodhan as he became popularly known after his death speaks about his life. The events in the Mahabharata told from the POV of Suyodhan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prince who brayed

**Author's Note:**

> I had written these stories for a group project. But I had to withdraw from the group before the project could finish. Here are the few chapters I wrote about Suyodhan. Each chapter will be an individual story & prior reading or a basic knowledge of the Mahabharata would be helpful in understanding this work. I did not finish writing all the POVs for Suyodhan but I thought of posting whatever I have written so at least someone would read it, rather than letting it gather edust in my laptop.

The little prince held the pigeon in his hands, stroking its head, studying the shades of pink & blue shining at its neck. The pigeon seemed finally ready to test its injured wing. Setting it down he waited for it to take flight & soar towards the skies. The bird turned its neck, looked at the boy, cooed softly, trotted about a little before spreading its wings. First slowly, then with a little more confidence the bird started to leave the ground behind. But the bird must have misjudged its strength for it soon started falling down again. Unable to control its fall it fluttered its wings in panic. The prince leaped forward, catching the bird in his palm just when it would have hit the ground.

 

Prince Suyodhan had found the bird gravely injured in the Royal Gardens. Crows had gathered around the bird waiting for it to die so they could begin their feast. But Suyodhan had driven them away. He had picked up the tiny thing & ran up to the Royal Vaidya. The man had tried to make the Prince understand that he treated humans & knew little about birds. But the stubborn Prince wouldn’t take no for an answer. Finally the Vaidya had given the Prince a paste to apply to the wounds, instructing him on how to take care of his winged friend. That had been weeks ago. 

 

Over the weeks as Suyodhan had nursed the little thing back to health he had grown fond of it. He had decided he would make it his pet. He would feed it, nurse it back to health & train it. Hence it broke his heart to see the bird in pain once again. He started running towards the Vaidya's house.The Vadiya had a set of rooms assigned for his family & him near the royal palace. At present the man was home, watching his wife coax his daughter Laxmi to quickly finish her meal. He smiled as Laxmi insisted on another story.

 

“Tell me the story of the Prince who brayed like a donkey.”

 

“Laxmi!”

 

Both mother & daughter were startled by his raised voice. Looking angrily at his wife he said, “How many times must I tell you to not repeat such lies. Don’t you understand how dangerous it could be if someone overhears you? Or if she tells this story to someone else?”

 

Sulochana, seeing an easy way to get her daughter to finally finish her meal ignored her husband & began telling the tale she had already told her many times & which for some reason was her daughter’s favourite. In all the commotion that had ensued since Laxmi’s request she had missed the arrival of the Prince who now stood quietly behind the open door, rigid, as if struck by thunder.

 

“Long ago, in a far away Kingdom was a great King. His Queen was expecting their first child. She waited patiently for months, for the day when she would hold her bundle of joy in her hands. Months soon turned into years & the Queen’s anxiety grew. Her child, stubborn & stupid, refused to be born. One day in anger & desperation the Queen cut her baby out. As the midwives attended to the bleeding Queen, the mass of flesh which had been her child was discarded. Much to the horror of the people, that very night, vultures descended on the city in great numbers. Wolves howled & amongst all the racket they could hear the steady braying of a donkey.”

 

By now the little girl had started giggling uncontrollably. Her mother often told her stories of Gods & demons but this was too ridiculous to fool even a little girl like her. She always knew her mother was making this all up as she went. 

 

“The wise minister of the King commanded that the animals be driven away. So terrified were the royals that not one of them dared come out & investigate the strange happenings. Sheets of rain fell, accompanied by thunder & lightening. The animals continued wrecking havoc with everyone’s senses. And through all this a single donkey brayed. Finally the animals stopped their screaming & the rains seemed to have abated. Everything was still for a moment. There was a loud knock on the doors of the royal chambers. The Queen almost leapt out of her skin.”

 

Suyodhan’s hands clenched in anger making the bird squirm in his iron like grip.

 

“The minister was standing at the door. The King himself ushered him in. Much to the chagrin of the royal couple the braying started again.”

 

“Have you brought a donkey in the palace you fool?,” thundered the angry Queen.

 

“No Maharani. It is just a little child”

 

Somewhere a pigeon fluttered its wings in a desperate attempt to get out of the iron grip around its neck. It landed with a thump on the floor. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He had heard that tale before. Whispered a thousand times. Lies & half truths all interwoven till you did not know where the truth ended & the folklore began. The braying donkey was him. They said he had brayed like a donkey when he was born. Late. Very late. Under a very inauspicious star. Was he truly cursed? Maybe. Maybe not. Only time would tell.

 

In one version of the story Pitamah & Vidur Kaka had asked his father to kill his first born. A son. Him! His father had vehemently refused to murder him. He hated that version the most! Kakashri was the kindest man he knew. He was also the wisest. And to think that he would want to kill an infant out of some stupid signs & superstitions! He would never ask such a thing off his own brother. Him asking a father to kill his just born baby because of some superstitious nonsense would have been laughable had it not been so insulting. He would never believe that Kakashri had demanded that of his father & Pitamah had not objected to it. 

 

It was always these upstarts who wove these tales. The Vaidya’s family had been living off the royal patronage for generations. The woman who was telling that story had served as midwife for many of the royal births. Instead of singing the praises of his family the woman chose to spread such lies. Not only was the woman maligning his reputation, the reputation of her future King, she had also killed his pigeon. If she hadn’t angered him he would never had clenched his fists & his lovely bird wouldn’t have died. The woman would pay for this! Hell, he would make sure her entire family paid for this!


	2. Friends forever

The horse whickered impatiently as the young boy Prince tried to nudge him into a gallop. Both horse & rider were getting bored with this ride which was little more than a stroll. Suyodhan grumbled. The horse was as old & sluggish as the imbecile trying to teach him riding. It would seem that a Prince of a large Kingdom, who owned thousands of horses & employed grooms by the hundreds couldn’t find a decent horse & teacher when he needed one.

 

The sound of hoofbeats broke the Prince’s train of thoughts. He saw a young man riding up the slope on a beautiful white horse. Man & rider looked one as they rode like the wind.  
Yes! This was how a horse should be. And this was how a man should ride it. Not like how he had been. Like an old woman limping on a cane! He waited for the rider to come nearer. The boy must be 15-16 years old & he was clearly a master. The rider leaped down gracefully from the horse when he saw the Kuru Prince & bowed low. 

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I am Vasusena, the son of Adhirath.”

 

Suyodhan knew Adhirath. He was his father’s charioteer. The lad must have practically grown up surrounded by horses. No wonder he was so comfortable in a saddle.  
Sending off the groom, Suyodhan struck up a conversation with Vasusena. He sensed an instant camaraderie growing between them. For the first time in his life Suyodhan was meeting someone who he could talk to freely & who talked freely with him. There was no fear of judgement like when he talked to Pitamah or Kulguru. There was no pressure to discuss his future as the next King of Hastinapur which was all Mamashri ever talked about. Vasusena was respectful towards his Prince but he didn’t seem like the bootlickers that surrounded him in the palace. He actually looked him in the eye & Suyodhan could do the same & read what was in his mind, a thing he missed doing with his own parents.  
By the time they reached the gates of the palace Suyodhan had managed to convince Radheya that he should be the one teaching him to ride. Radheya felt honoured & humbly accepted his Prince’s request like he would any of his commands.

 

Each morning the two boys would meet outside the palace gates, walk to the stables, select the best horses, saddle them & ride off towards the rising sun, one guiding, the other learning with enthusiasm till he too mastered the art.; both of them earning a friend for life.


End file.
